6.  The applicants are:
(1) Mr Magomed Abdulvadudovich[1] Elsiyev, born in 1941,
(2) Mr Isa Noshayevich Demelkhanov, born in 1956,
(3) Mr Vakhid Boltiyev, born in 1937,
(4) Ms Petimat Dzhamaldiyevna[2] Nakayeva, born in 1954,
(5) Ms Shurka Abubakarova, born in 1939,
(6) Mr Khozhbaudi Abdul-Vakhitovich Mandiyev, born in 1957,
(7) Ms Zavra Saidselimovna Demilkhanova, born in 1961, and
(8) Ms Shakhadat (also spelled as Shakhadad) Alieyvna Agmerzayeva, born in 1962.
7.  The applicants live in the village of Tsotsi-Yurt, in the Kurchaloy district of Chechnya. The applicants’ relatives have been detained and subsequently disappeared.
8.  On 31 August 2002 the Russian military troops surrounded the village of Tsotsi-Yurt (also known as Oktyabrskoye). Between 1 and 8 September 2002 they carried out a large-scale special security operation in the village. The military, under the command of General Studenikin (also spelled as Studenkin), based their headquarters and a temporary filtration point on the outskirts of the village. The filtration point, known to the local residents as “the flour mill” and “the brigade”, consisted of an old barn, a former repair station and a fenced yard. Military division no. 4 (4-я дивизия) was among the units which participated in the special operation. At least 86 persons were apprehended during the operation and taken to the filtration point by “AvtoZak” vehicles (GAZ-53 lorries equipped for transportation of detainees), one of which had the registration number 112 BM 61.
(b)  Apprehension of Salakh Elsiyev and subsequent events
9.  The first applicant is the father of Mr Salakh Magomedovich Elsiyev, who was born in 1972.
10.  On 2 September 2002 the Elsiyevs were at home, at 21 Shosseinaya Street, in the village of Tsotsi-Yurt. At about 3 p.m. two armoured personnel carriers (“APCs”) and a UAZ car arrived at their house. The vehicles’ registration numbers were covered with mud.
11.  The first applicant went outside. Twelve or thirteen armed men wearing camouflage uniforms and masks, equipped with portable radio systems and armed with Stechkin pistols and machine guns, entered the yard and ordered the first applicant to prostrate himself. He disobeyed their order. The men forced him against the wall and asked how many men were in the house. The first applicant named his son and himself.
12.  The servicemen entered the house, dragged Salakh Elsiyev outside and put him on the ground. When the first applicant requested the soldiers to explain what was happening, one of them pointed a Stechkin gun at him and ordered him to keep silent. Three or four servicemen entered the Elsiyevs’ house and searched it. They did not produce any search warrant.
13.  The servicemen searched Salakh Elsiyev, then put him in the APC and drove away in the direction of the western outskirts of the village, where the special operation’s headquarters were stationed. The apprehension of the first applicant’s son was witnessed by the first applicant’s neighbour, Mr Sh.G., who provided a witness statement similar to that of the first applicant.
14.  On 3 September 2002 the first applicant and his wife went to the filtration point. They saw that the apprehended men were being kept in the barn. From the date of Salakh Elsiyev’s apprehension the applicant went to the point every day, waiting for the release of his son. In the morning of 7 September 2002 the first applicant returned to the filtration point and saw that all the military vehicles had left in an unknown direction.
(c)  Apprehension of Iskhadzhi Demelkhanov and Akhmed Demilkhanov
15.  The second applicant is the father of Mr Iskhadzhi Isayevich Demelkhanov (also spelled as Demilkhanov), who was born in 1980. The seventh applicant is the mother of Mr Akhmed Musayevich Demilkhanov (also spelled as Demelkhanov), who was born in 1984. Iskhadzhi Demelkhanov and Akhmed Demilkhanov are cousins and grandchildren of Mr Nozha (also spelled as Nazha) Demelkhanov, who also lives in Tsotsi-Yurt.
16.  At about 7 p.m. on 2 September 2002 two APCs and an infantry battle vehicle (“BMP”) arrived at the second applicant’s house in Vostochnaya Street (the house did not have a number). Around thirty men in camouflage uniforms, some of whom were wearing masks, entered inside. They did not introduce themselves. They were armed with machine guns and grenade launchers and spoke unaccented Russian.
17.  The men took all the family members outside and lined them up along the wall. Then the servicemen searched the house and took several items of the family’s property. Having spent about an hour at the applicant’s house, they drove away.
18.  Fearing for their sons’ safety, the second and seventh applicants sent Iskhadzhi Demelkhanov and Akhmed Demilkhanov to the house of their grandfather, Mr Nozha Demelkhanov.
19.  At about 11 a.m. on 3 September 2002 a Ural and a UAZ vehicle arrived at Nozha Demelkhanov’s gate at 61 Gagarina Street in Tsotsi-Yurt. Ten to twelve armed men rushed into the house, forced its residents outside, ordered the younger men to undress and checked their identity papers. Then the servicemen put Iskhadzhi Demelkhanov and Akhmed Demilkhanov on the ground, beat them with gun butts and loaded them into the UAZ vehicle.
20.  According to a witness, whose name was not disclosed by the applicants out of fear for his safety, for three days following their apprehension Iskhadzhi Demelkhanov and Akhmed Demilkhanov were kept in an “AvtoZak” vehicle parked next to the old mill house.
(d)  Apprehension of Adam Boltiyev
21.  The third applicant is the father of Mr Adam Vakhidovich Boltiyev, who was born in 1980.
22.  At about 9 a.m. on 3 September 2002 two APCs arrived at the Boltiyevs’ house at 1 Rechnaya Street in Tsotsi-Yurt. A group of servicemen in camouflage uniforms, armed with machine guns and knives, got out of the vehicles and entered the applicant’s house. They did not introduce themselves.
23.  The servicemen checked the Boltiyevs’ identity documents. Adam Boltiyev produced a certificate confirming that his passport was being exchanged. The servicemen decided to take him with them. The third applicant insisted on accompanying his son. Then the servicemen took Adam Boltiyev and the third applicant to a Ural lorry and drove them to the old mill house.
24.  Upon arrival at the filtration point the servicemen ordered the third applicant and his son to lie down on the floor. For several hours the Boltiyevs were not allowed to move. In the evening of 3 September 2002 the servicemen ordered the third applicant to leave and promised to release Adam Boltiyev in a few hours. The third applicant returned home. He has not seen his son ever since.
(e)  Apprehension of Dzhabrail Debishev
25.  The fourth applicant is the mother of Mr Dzhabrail Abdulovich Debishev, who was born in 1977.
26.  At about 9 a.m. on 3 September 2002 an APC pulled up in front of the fourth applicant’s house at 5 Ovrazhnaya Street in Tsotsi-Yurt. A group of armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms emerged from the APC, entered the house, ordered the family members to go outside and demanded their identity documents. The soldiers also searched the house and the yard.
27.  After examining Dzhabrail Debishev’s papers the servicemen loaded him into the APC. The fourth applicant followed her son and got into the vehicle, but the servicemen ordered her to come out, threatening to shoot Dzhabrail. She obeyed. The APC drove away in the direction of the old mill house. Some witnesses reported that they had seen Dzhabrail Debishev at the temporary filtration point shortly afterwards.
(f)  Apprehension of Lom-Ali Abubakarov
28.  The fifth applicant is the mother of Mr Lom-Ali Borisovich Abubakarov, who was born in 1968.
29.  At about 11 a.m. on 3 September 2002 two APCs and one UAZ car without registration numbers arrived at the fifth applicant’s house in Gagarina Street (the house did not have a number). Twenty to twenty-five armed men wearing camouflage uniforms surrounded the house. Ten of them went inside, examined all the wardrobes and asked whether there were any weapons hidden. They spoke unaccented Russian.
30.  The applicant’s family members were forced to go to the yard and asked to produce their identity documents. In the yard the fifth applicant lost consciousness. The servicemen did not allow Lom-Ali Abubakarov to approach her.
31.  After that a Ural lorry without a registration number arrived at the house. The servicemen told the Abubakarovs that they were taking Lom-Ali for an identity check and that in about three hours he would return home. They put him in the lorry and drove away.
(g)  Apprehension of Ramzan Mandiyev
32.  The sixth applicant is the father of Mr Ramzan Khozhbaudiyevich Mandiyev, who was born in 1981.
33.  On 3 September 2002 the Mandiyev family and their relatives were holding a funeral ceremony at the Mandiyevs’ house in Vostochnaya Street in Tsotsi-Yurt. A group of servicemen arrived at the house in a Ural vehicle, entered inside, examined the corpse, loaded all those present into the vehicle and drove them to the old mill house. There they checked the identity papers of the detained persons and released all of them except for Ramzan Mandiyev. The sixth applicant has not seen him ever since.
(h)  Apprehension of Aslambek Agmerzayev
34.  The eighth applicant is the wife of Mr Aslambek Vakhayevich Agmerzayev (also spelled as Agamerzayev), who was born in 1956.
35.  On 3 September 2002 an APC arrived at the applicant’s house at 8 Kommunisticheskaya Street in Tsotsi-Yurt; the vehicle’s registration number was painted over. Around fifteen armed men in camouflage uniforms emerged from the vehicle. Some of them wore masks. The men, who spoke unaccented Russian, did not introduce themselves. They ordered the Agmerzayevs to go outside and searched them in the yard. Then they checked Aslambek Agmerzayev’s identity documents and said that something was wrong with them.
36.  After that, without producing any search warrant, the servicemen searched the house. They took some items of the family’s property, forced Aslambek Agmerzayev into the APC and drove away.
(i)  Completion of the special operation
37.  On 4 September 2002 the head of the Chechen administration, Mr A. Kadyrov, and the chief commander of the United Group Alignment (UGA), General V. Moltenskoy, arrived in the village of Tsotsi-Yurt and negotiated the release of the majority of the persons being kept at the temporary filtration point. However, the applicants’ relatives remained in detention.
38.  For several days after that, the applicants visited the old mill house and waited for their relatives’ release. General Studenikin, who was in charge of the security operation in Tsotsi-Yurt, repeatedly promised them that the detainees would be released upon completion of the operation.
39.  On 7 September 2002 the security operation in Tsotsi-Yurt was finished. The servicemen did not release the applicants’ relatives. The applicants have not seen Salakh Elsiyev, Iskhadzhi Demelkhanov, Adam Boltiyev, Dzhabrail Debishev, Lom-Ali Abubakarov, Ramzan Mandiyev, Akhmed Demilkhanov and Aslambek Agmerzayev dead or alive ever since.
40.  In support of their statements, the applicants submitted the following documents: a hand-drawn map of the area of Tsotsi-Yurt; a witness statement by the eighth applicant, dated 10 October 2002; a witness statement by the fourth applicant, dated 10 October 2002; a witness statement by the first applicant, dated 10 October 2002; a witness statement by the fifth applicant’s relative Mrs L.B., dated 12 June 2003; a witness statement by the fifth applicant’s relative Mrs M.A., dated 12 June 2003; a witness statement by the sixth applicant’s wife, Mrs R.M., dated 20 June 2003; two witness statements by the second and seventh applicants’ relative Mr N.D., dated 21 June 2003 and 19 April 2004; a witness statement by the second and seventh applicants’ relative Mrs E.D., dated 21 June 2003; a witness statement by the sixth applicant, dated 22 July 2003; a witness statement by the first applicant’s neighbour Mr Sh.G., dated 4 November 2003; a witness statement by the second applicant, dated 4 April 2004; a witness statement by the third applicant, dated 19 April 2004; and a character reference for Dzhabrail Debishev, undated.
41.  According to the Government’s submission, “between 2 and 8 September 2002, on the basis of a military order issued by the Chechnya military commander, the Kurchaloy district military commander’s office conducted a special security operation (рассечение) in the settlement of Tsotsi-Yurt along the river Khunkhulau. A number of vehicles took part in the operation, including one APC-80, two ARVs (armoured reconnaissance vehicle – бронированная разведывательно-дозорная машина (БРДМ)), and KAMAZ (КАМАЗ) and ZIL (ЗИЛ)) lorries. A representative of the United Group Alignment was in charge of the operation. An identity check was also conducted during the operation.”
42.  The Government further referred to a number of documents obtained by the domestic investigation opened into the abduction of the applicants’ relatives. These documents are summarised below.
43.  On 11 September 2002 the interim district prosecutor requested that the Kurchaloy district military commander’s office (the district military commander’s office), the Kurchaloy district department of the Federal Security Service (the district department of the FSB), the Kurchaloy district department of the interior (the ROVD) and the Kurchaloy interim district department of the interior (the VOVD) provide the investigators with information concerning the security operation conducted in Tsotsi-Yurt between 2 and 7 September 2002.
44.  According to a letter received from the district military commander on 13 September 2002, upon the order of the Chechnya military commander, the district military commander’s office had conducted a security operation from 2 to 8 September 2002 in Tsotsi-Yurt, Chechnya. A representative of the UGA had been in charge of the operation. The following military vehicles had been used during the operation: one APC, two BMPs, and KAMAZ and ZIL military lorries. The letter also stated that the servicemen of the district military commander’s office had not participated in the search of the houses and the identity check.
45.  According to a letter from the deputy head of the district department of the FSB, from 1 to 8 September 2002 an identity check was conducted in Tsotsi-Yurt as the authorities had received information that a leader of an illegal armed group, Mr R.Ch., might be hiding in the village.
46. According to a letter of 13 September 2002 from the head of the VOVD, a special operational-investigating group of the Ministry of the Interior (the MVD), had been stationed outside Tsotsi-Yurt. The group had participated in the security operation in the village from 2 to 7 September 2002.
47. According to a letter of 14 September 2002 from the head of the ROVD, officers of the ROVD participated in the security operation in Tsotsi-Yurt only between 6 and 8 September 2002.
(b)  Information concerning the apprehension of the applicants’ relatives
48.  The Government did not challenge most of the facts as submitted by the applicants. In their observations of 9 November 2007 the Government stated that “between 2 and 4 September 2002 in the village of Tsotsi-Yurt in the Kurchaloy district of the Chechen Republic unidentified armed persons kidnapped R. Mandiyev, D. Debishev, A. Demilkhanov, I. Demilkhanov, ... A. Agamerzayev, S. Elsiyev, A. Boltiyev and L.‑A. Abubakarov”.
49.  However, further in the same submission, without mentioning that the applicants’ relatives had been detained by State servicemen, the Government stated that “the material in the investigation file does not provide grounds to assume that the detained [applicants’ relatives] were not released [by military servicemen] along with other residents of the village of Tsotsi-Yurt and that they did not return to their places of residence because of the actions of the military forces rather than other circumstances”.
50.  In their further observations of 11 March 2008 the Government stated that “the authorities of the Russian Federation insist on their position stated in the Memorandum [of 9 November 2007] that the applicants’ relatives were indeed detained [by Russian servicemen] but were later released. The reason for their failure to return home is unknown ...” and that “the Government insist on their position that the detention of [the applicants’ relatives] was lawful, as a special operation was being conducted”.
51.  Referring to the information obtained by the official investigation into the abduction of the applicants’ relatives, the Government submitted to the Court the following information concerning the circumstances surrounding the apprehension of the applicants’ relatives.
52.  Between 7 and 11 September 2002 the investigators conducted preliminary questioning of the second, sixth, first, eighth, fourth and third applicants and the daughter-in-law of the fifth applicant. A summary of their statements, as submitted by the Government, is provided below.
53.  According to the second applicant, at about 11 a.m. on 3 September 2002 unknown armed men in camouflage uniforms and masks arrived at his house in an APC and a Ural lorry without registration numbers. They took away some items of his family’s property.
54.  According to the sixth applicant, on 3 September 2002 his family was holding a funeral ceremony. At about 10.30 a.m. a group of armed men arrived at his house in an APC and a URAL vehicle without registration numbers. The armed men put all the men who had been attending the ceremony into the Ural vehicle and took them to the headquarters of the security operation. There the armed men checked the identity papers of the sixth applicant and his guests and released the applicant and some of the other men. However, four men were not released, including two of the sixth applicant’s sons. Several days later, on 6 September 2002, the sixth applicant’s son Ruslan was released. On the same day, 6 September 2002, at about 5.40 p.m. a Russian general gave a speech on the outskirts of Tsotsi-Yurt and announced that all the detainees had been released. However, the applicant’s other son, Ramzan, did not return home.
55.  According to the first applicant, at about 3.15 p.m. on 2 September 2002, a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms arrived at his house in two APCs and a UAZ car; the APCs’ registration numbers were covered with mud. The men were armed with Stechkin automatic pistols and machine guns.
56.  According to the eighth applicant, at about 10 a.m. on 2 September 2002 a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms arrived at her house in APCs and a URAL lorry. They took away her husband, A. Agmerzayev. On the following day, 3 September 2002, two APCs again arrived at her house. The same armed men looked around her house and the yard and took away some items of their family’s property. They found her husband’s jacket and burned it, along with his passport and other documents. On 5 September 2002, one of the residents of Tsotsi-Yurt, a doctor, Mr A.Kh., told the applicant that from 3 to 4 September 2002 he had been detained during the night together with her husband in the same vehicle; on the following morning he had been released, but her husband had not.
57.  According to the fourth applicant, at about 8 a.m. on 3 September 2002, a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms and masks entered her house and took away her son D. Debishev.
58.  According to the third applicant, on 3 September 2002, a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms arrived at his house in APCs and a URAL vehicle. They put the applicant and his son, A. Boltiyev, in the URAL lorry and took them to the place situated between “the flour mill” and “the brigade”. In the evening the applicant was allowed to return home, but his son remained there.
59.  According to the fifth applicant’s daughter-in-law, at about 11 a.m. on 3 September 2002, a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms took away her husband, L.-A. Abubakarov. According to the witness, another resident of the village, Mr I.A., was also apprehended by the armed men on the same date, but he was released on 4 September 2002.
60.  Immediately after their relatives had been apprehended, the applicants, together with the head of the local administration, wrote to the head of the Chechen administration, Mr A. Kadyrov, describing in detail the circumstances of their relatives’ apprehension and requesting information about their whereabouts. The applicants and their relatives submitted similar complaints to various official bodies, such as the prosecutors’ offices at different levels and the Special Envoy of the Russian President in Chechnya for Rights and Freedoms (“the Special Envoy”). They were assisted in their efforts by the SRJI. The applicants retained copies of a number of their complaints and the authorities’ responses and submitted them to the Court. These documents are summarised below.
61.  On 11 September 2002 the prosecutor’s office of the Kurchaloy district of Chechnya (“the district prosecutor’s office”) instituted an investigation into the disappearances of Salakh Elsiyev, Iskhadzhi Demelkhanov, Akhmed Demilkhanov, Adam Boltiyev, Dzhabrail Debishev, Lom-Ali Abubakarov, Ramzan Mandiyev and Aslambek Agmerzayev under Article 126 § 2 of the Russian Criminal Code (aggravated kidnapping). The case file was assigned number 75089.
62.  On 26 September, 3 October, 20 October and 5 November 2002 the applicants wrote to various State authorities, including the district military commander, the Chechnya military commander, the military prosecutor’s office of the UGA and the Prosecutor General’s office, asking for assistance in the search for their disappeared relatives.
63.  On 18 November 2002 the SRJI wrote to the Chechnya prosecutor’s office describing the events of 1 to 7 September 2002 in Tsotsi-Yurt and requesting to be provided with information on the whereabouts of the disappeared men.
64.  On 26 December 2002 the military prosecutor’s office of military unit no. 20102 (the unit military prosecutor’s office) informed the Special Envoy that an inquiry had been conducted which had established that no military personnel had been involved in the disappearance of the applicants’ relatives and that the criminal investigation into the events was under way.
65.  On 31 March 2003 the military prosecutor’s office of the UGA informed the Special Envoy that the Shali district prosecutor’s office had opened an investigation into the disappearances of the applicants’ relatives, and that this investigation had found no evidence implicating military servicemen in the abduction of the applicants’ relatives. It appears that the letter provided incorrect information as the investigation was being conducted by the Kurchaloy district prosecutor’s office.
66.  On 18 April 2003 the SRJI requested the district prosecutor’s office to provide the applicants with copies of the decision to open the investigation in criminal case no. 75089, to grant the applicants victim status in the proceedings and to inform them about the progress of the investigation. On 20 May 2003 the district prosecutor’s office rejected the SRJI’s request, stating that information concerning a pending investigation was confidential and that the SRJI’s lawyers were not participants in the proceedings.
67.  On 4 June 2003 the applicants reiterated their request of 18 April 2003. No response was given to this request.
68.  On 26 July 2003 the district prosecutor’s office transferred the investigation in criminal case no. 75089 to the unit military prosecutor’s office as it had been established that the applicants’ relatives had been apprehended by units equipped with armoured vehicles belonging to the Ministry of Defence or the Internal Troops of the Ministry of the Interior.
69.  On 12 August 2003 the investigation in the criminal case was referred back to the district prosecutor’s office, as it had been established that after being apprehended, three of the applicants’ relatives, namely A. Boltiyev, D. Debishev and R. Mandiyev, had been detained in an “AvtoZak” vehicle with the registration number B 112 MB 61, which had belonged to the Ministry of Justice.
70.  On 8 October 2003 the SRJI wrote to the Chechnya prosecutor’s office, complaining in detail of the ineffectiveness of the investigation in criminal case no. 75089 and requesting that it be conducted under the control of the Chechnya prosecutor’s office.
71.  On 25 October 2003 the district prosecutor’s office again transferred the investigation in criminal case no. 75089 to the unit military prosecutor’s office and suspended the investigation in case no. 75089 owing to the failure to identify the perpetrators.
72.  On 30 October 2003 the Chechnya prosecutor’s office informed the SRJI about the suspension of the investigation and stated that the search for the applicants’ relatives and those responsible for their abduction was under way.
73.  On 3 and 19 December 2003 the SRJI wrote to the district and Chechnya prosecutors’ offices, requesting to be provided with information on measures taken by the investigators in the criminal case. In particular, it requested to be informed whether the identities of the servicemen who had participated in the security operation in Tsotsi-Yurt had been established; whether General Studenikin had been questioned by the investigators; and whether the residents of Tsotsi-Yurt had been questioned about the events.
74.  On 8 January and 2 February 2004 the Chechnya prosecutor’s office informed the SRJI that the investigation in the criminal case was under way and that investigative measures were being taken to solve the crime.
75.  On 22 January 2004 the unit military prosecutor’s office again referred the investigation in the criminal case back to the district prosecutor’s office without having taken any investigative measures since receiving the case file on 25 October 2003.
76.  On 12 March 2004 the investigation in case no. 75089 was suspended owing to the failure to identify the perpetrators.
77.  On 22 December 2005 the applicants complained to the district prosecutor of the ineffectiveness of the investigation in the criminal case. In their detailed submission they once again described the circumstances of their relatives’ apprehension and requested that the investigators take the following measures in particular: questioning of General Studenikin and other officers who had been in charge of the security operation in Tsotsi-Yurt; identification and questioning of the servicemen who had participated in the operation; identification of the military units which had used APCs and other military vehicles during the operation; and questioning of the residents of Tsotsi-Yurt who had witnessed the events.
78.  On 11 September 2002 the district prosecutor’s office instituted an investigation into the abduction of Salakh Elsiyev, Iskhadzhi Demelkhanov, Adam Boltiyev, Dzhabrail Debishev, Lom-Ali Abubakarov, Ramzan Mandiyev, Akhmed Demilkhanov and Aslambek Agmerzayev under Article 126 § 2 of the Russian Criminal Code (aggravated kidnapping). The case file was assigned number 75089. It was decided that the investigation of the criminal case would be conducted by a group of investigators from the district prosecutor’s office. The applicants were informed about the opening of the criminal proceedings on the same date.
79.  On 11 September 2002 the investigators requested information concerning the special operation conducted in Tsotsi-Yurt from 2 to 7 September 2002 from the local law-enforcement agencies (see paragraph 43 above).
80.  In September 2002 the investigators received responses to their information requests, confirming that a security operation had been conducted in Tsotsi-Yurt from 1 to 8 September 2002 (see paragraphs 44-47 above).
81.  On 11 September 2002 the investigators conducted an examination of the crime scene in the houses of the applicants and their relatives. In addition, within the two following weeks the investigators had questioned a number of eyewitnesses to the abductions of the applicants’ relatives.
82.  On 12 September 2002 the investigators questioned the sixth applicant, who stated that at about 10.30 a.m. on 3 September 2002, when he and his relatives had been attending a funeral ceremony, an APC without registration numbers had arrived at his house. A group of armed men, who had arrived in the APC, had called for a Ural lorry without registration numbers, which had arrived along with two UAZ cars. All those attending the funeral, including the applicant’s two sons, had been placed into the vehicles and taken to the place known as “the operation’s headquarters”, where the applicant’s identity documents had been checked and he had been released an hour later. On 5 September 2002 his son Ruslan had been released; his other son Ramzan had not returned home. On the same date the applicant was granted victim status in the criminal proceedings.
83.  On 12 September 2002 the investigators questioned the first applicant, who stated that at about 3.15 p.m. on 3 September 2002 a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms and masks had arrived at his house in APCs and a UAZ car; the vehicles’ registration numbers had been concealed with mud. The men, who had been armed with Stechkin automatic pistols with silencers, had taken away his son, Salakh Elsiyev. On the same date the applicant’s fellow villagers, from the family of Mr V., had also been apprehended by the armed men.
On the same date the applicant was granted victim status in the criminal proceedings.
84.  On 12 September 2002 the investigators questioned the fourth applicant’s husband, who stated that on 2 September 2002 he had seen a convoy of nine APCs and a Ural lorry driving down his street in Tsotsi-Yurt. On the following day, 3 September 2002, at about 9 a.m. an APC with armed military servicemen had arrived at his house. Some of the servicemen had been wearing masks. They had taken away his son and his wife and had driven away. Having driven for about 400 metres, the APC had stopped and the witness’s wife (the fourth applicant) had got out of the vehicle. The fourth applicant had told the witness that she had seen their fellow villager Mr A.P. in the APC. According to the witness, on 5 or 6 September 2002 Mr A.P. had been found by his relatives in the forest and had immediately been sent to hospital for medical treatment.
85.  On 12 September 2002 the investigators questioned Mrs Ya.D., a relative of the second and seventh applicants, who was also granted victim status in the criminal proceedings. According to Mrs Ya.D., at about 10 a.m. on 3 September 2002 a group of unidentified armed men in camouflage uniforms had arrived in APCs and a UAZ car at the house of her relatives in Tsotsi-Yurt. The vehicles had not had registration numbers. The armed men had apprehended her son Iskhadzhi Demelkhanov and his cousin Akhmed Demilkhanov. At about 3 p.m. on the same date a group of armed men in masks had arrived at her house, had conducted an identity check and had looked around the house.
86.  On 12 September 2002 the investigators questioned Mrs Z.D., a relative of the second and seventh applicants, who was also granted victim status in the criminal proceedings. According to Mrs Z.D., at about 10 a.m. on 3 September 2002 an APC and a UAZ car had arrived at her house; the vehicles’ registration numbers had been covered with mud. A group of armed men had got out of the vehicles and had taken away her son Akhmed Demilkhanov and his cousin Iskhadzhi Demelkhanov. The witness and other residents of Tsotsi-Yurt had gone to the outskirts of the village, where the military had been based; but they had not been allowed to go inside the facilities. The witness further stated that on 5 September 2002 the head of the Chechen administration, Mr Kadyrov, and a Russian general had arrived at the village. The general had promised that all those apprehended during the operation would be released in the evening of the same day. However, her son had not returned home.
87.  On 12 September 2002 the investigators questioned the third applicant, who on the same date was granted victim status in the criminal proceedings. The applicant stated that at about 8 a.m. on 3 September 2002 an APC without registration numbers had arrived at his house in Tsotsi-Yurt. A group of armed men in camouflage uniforms had descended from it and entered the house. One of them had ordered all members of the applicant’s family to gather in the yard. After that the men had taken the applicant and his son to the outskirts of the village, by the flour mill. In the evening of the same day, at about 6 p.m., the applicant had received his passport back from the servicemen and had been allowed to return home. On his way home the applicant had met a group of fellow villagers who had told him that the military had taken away 15 or 16 men from Tsotsi-Yurt. The applicant’s son had not returned home.
88.  On 12 September 2002 the investigators questioned the fifth applicant, who was also granted victim status in the criminal proceedings, and his wife, Mrs L.A. Both witnesses provided analogous testimonies to the effect that at about 11 a.m. on 3 September 2002 a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms had taken away their relative Lom-Ali Abubakarov from their home. On the following day, 4 September 2002, the same group of armed men had also apprehended another resident of Tsotsi-Yurt, Mr I.A., who had been released on 4 September 2002.
89. On 12 September 2002 the investigators questioned and granted victim status in the criminal case to the eighth applicant’s husband, Mr V.A. He stated that at about 10 a.m. on 3 September 2002 a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms had arrived at his house on an APC. The men looked around the house and asked his son, Aslambek Agmerzayev, to follow them. Together with his son they had gone to another house; after that his son had left with these men in the APC and had not returned home.
90.  On 23 September 2002 the investigators questioned and granted victim status in the criminal case to Mr N.O. He stated that in the morning of 4 September 2002 he had been in his vegetable garden when a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms had blindfolded him and had put him in a vehicle. When the blindfold had been removed, the witness had seen that he was in a forest, surrounded by men in green camouflage uniform. According to the witness, he had spent two days in the forest. The men had tortured him with electricity and had beaten his feet with a stick, asking whether he knew any members of illegal armed groups. After that he had been taken to another place, located in a field, where he had spent three days during which military servicemen had fed him and had given him warm clothes for the night. For three nights the witness had slept in an APC with the servicemen. Afterwards he had been taken to another place, where he had been blindfolded and tied up to a tree. He had managed to set himself free. Having walked for about 3 km, he had entered the village of Martan-Chu in the Urus-Martan district of Chechnya, where the local police officers had taken him to the department of the interior of the Urus-Martan district (the Urus-Martan ROVD). After that the witness had returned home.
91.  On 11 November 2002 the district prosecutor’s office suspended the investigation in the criminal case owing to the failure to establish the perpetrators. On the same date the applicants or their relatives were informed about this decision.
92. On 30 April 2003 the investigation in criminal case no. 75089 was resumed. The applicants or their relatives were informed about this decision.
93.  On 1 June 2003 the investigation in the criminal case was suspended owing to the failure to establish the perpetrators. The applicants or their relatives were informed about this decision.
94.   On 24 July 2003 the investigation in criminal case no. 75089 was resumed. The applicants or their relatives were informed about this decision.
95.  On 25 July 2003 the investigators questioned Mr P.A., who stated that on 2 September 2002 a group of unidentified armed men had taken him away from his house; together with A. Agmerzayev, he had been taken to the outskirts of Tsotsi-Yurt. In the evening of the same day the armed men had returned passports to fifteen of the detained men and released them.
96.  On 25 July 2003 the investigators had questioned seven witnesses, including Mrs M.T., Mrs E.Kh., Mrs B.V., Mr Sh.G., Mr S.M., Mrs T.I. and Mrs Z.S., who provided analogous statements to the effect that on 2 September 2002 unidentified armed men in APCs and Ural and UAZ vehicles had apprehended a number of their fellow villagers in Tsotsi-Yurt.
97.  On 26 July 2003 the district prosecutor’s office transferred the investigation into the abduction of the applicants’ relatives to the military prosecutor’s office of the UGA as the investigators had established that the applicants’ relatives had been apprehended by military units from the Ministry of Defence or the Internal Troops of the Ministry of the Interior, who had been equipped during the operation with armoured vehicles (see paragraph 136 below).
98.  On 12 August 2003 the military prosecutor’s office referred the criminal case back to the district prosecutor’s office for investigation as it had been established that the applicants’ relatives had been detained in an “AvtoZak” vehicle with the registration number B 112 MB 61 RUS, which had belonged to the Ministry of Justice (see paragraph 136 below).
99.  Between 22 August and 23 October 2003 the investigators forwarded several requests to a number of State officials, including the military commander of the UGA, the head of archives of the Headquarters of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of the Interior in the Northern Caucasus, the head of the Department of the Ministry of the Interior in the Southern Federal Circuit and the head of archives of the Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence in the Northern Caucasus, asking to be provided with information concerning the units and the vehicles involved in the security operation in Tsotsi-Yurt.
100.  On 25 October 2003 the district prosecutor’s office suspended the criminal investigation owing to the failure to identify the perpetrators and transferred the investigation into the abduction of the applicants’ relatives to the military prosecutor’s office for the second time. The applicants or their relatives were informed about the decision to suspend the investigation.
101.   On 22 January 2004 the military prosecutor’s office once again returned the criminal case file to the district prosecutor’s office for investigation. On the same date the deputy Chechnya prosecutor overruled the decision to suspend the investigation and it was resumed. The applicants or their relatives were informed about the resumption of the criminal proceedings.
102.   On 22 January 2004 the investigators forwarded a number of information requests to various law-enforcement agencies. According to the responses received from the Main Information Centres of the Ministry of the Interior of Chechnya and the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation, these agencies did not have any information concerning the detention of the applicants’ relatives.
103.  On 22 January 2004 the investigators requested the district department of the FSB and the district military commander’s office to provide information as to the owner of the vehicle with the registration number B 112 MB 61, in which the abducted men had been detained and whether the agencies had any other information about the disappeared men.
104.  On 27 February 2004 the investigators forwarded a similar information request to the ROVD. In addition they asked the ROVD to conduct a crime-scene examination, to question the fourth applicant and to identify and question other witnesses to the abduction of the applicants’ relatives.
105.  On 7 March 2004 the district department of the FSB replied that it did not have any information about the vehicle. The response from the military commander’s office was of the same nature.
106.  On 1 April 2004 the ROVD replied that it did not have any information about the vehicle and submitted the fourth applicant’s witness statement. According to the statement, on 3 September 2002 an APC with obscured registration numbers had arrived at her house. A group of armed men who had arrived in the APC had taken away her son Dzhabrail Debishev and her neighbour Mr A.P. The latter had returned home on 5 or 6 September 2002. According to the witness, on 6 September 2002 she had spoken with General Studenikin, who had promised to her that at 6 p.m. on the same date the military would release all those detained during the security operation. However, her son had not returned home.
107.  On 12 March 2004 the investigation in the criminal case was suspended owing to the failure to identify the perpetrators. The applicants or their relatives were informed about this decision on the same date.
108.  On 20 January 2006 the investigation in criminal case no. 75089 was resumed. The applicants or their relatives were informed about this decision.
109. On 25 January 2006 the investigators requested the ROVD to conduct a crime-scene examination on the outskirts of Tsotsi-Yurt where the filtration point had been located in 2002.
110.  On an unspecified date in January 2006 the ROVD conducted the crime-scene examination, in which the first applicant took part. It does not appear that any evidence was collected from the scene.
111. On 26 January 2006 the investigators again questioned the first, sixth and seventh applicants. The witnesses gave similar statements to those provided by them in September 2002. The investigators also questioned the second applicant, who provided a similar statement to that of the seventh applicant.
112.  On 30 January 2006 the investigators conducted a crime-scene examination in the house of witness Mr N.O., whose relative had also been apprehended by armed men during the security operation in Tsotsi-Yurt. It does not appear that any evidence was collected from the scene.
113. On 30 January 2006 the investigators questioned Mr I.A., who stated that in September 2002 a group of Russian servicemen had been conducting a “sweeping-up” operation (“зачистка”) in Tsotsi-Yurt. The servicemen had been wearing camouflage uniform with the emblem of a bear on the sleeves. On 3 September 2002 the village had been fully blockaded by the servicemen. On the same day a group of servicemen had arrived at the witness’s house in an APC whose registration numbers had been obscured with mud. The servicemen had put him in a Ural vehicle and had taken him to the filtration point. Lom-Ali Abubakarov had been transported together with the witness in the same lorry. According to the witness, at night he had been kept in a cell located in a GAZ vehicle. Nine other men had been kept inside the same vehicle together with the witness. Some time later the witness had been released, whereas the other detainees had gone missing.
114. On 31 January 2006 the investigators questioned the eighth applicant and the relative of the fifth applicant, who had confirmed the statements they had provided in September 2002.
115. On 1 February 2006 the investigators questioned a witness, Mr A. Kh., who stated that at about 10 a.m. on 3 September 2002 a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms had arrived at his house in an APC and a Ural lorry. The men had entered his house and had taken him to the outskirts of Tsotsi-Yurt. There he had been put in a cell located inside a GAZ vehicle. In the same vehicle, but in another cell, his cousin Aslambek Agmerzayev had also been detained. On the following day, 4 September 2002, he had been released from detention, but A. Agmerzayev had not returned home.
116.  On 1 February 2006 the investigators questioned Mr A.P., who stated that between 2 and 7 September 2002 a security operation aimed at identifying and apprehending members of illegal armed groups had been conducted in Tsotsi-Yurt. On 2 September 2002 he had been apprehended at home by a group of unidentified armed men, who had taken him in an APC to the headquarters of the security operation on the outskirts of the village. His fellow villager Dzhabrail Debishev had been taken there in the same APC. Upon arrival at the headquarters the witness had been placed in a GAZ vehicle which had been modified to serve as a detention facility. In this vehicle he had seen his other fellow villagers, including Iskhadzhi Demelkhanov, Akhmed Demilkhanov, Ibragim Demilkhanov, Ramzan Mandiyev, Salakh Elsiyev, Lom-Ali Abubakarov and Aslambek Agmerzayev. The following morning he had been taken by a helicopter and then by an ARV to an unknown place, where he had been interrogated about the criminal activities of a relative of his who had been killed in 2000. After that his passport had been returned to him and he had been taken by a car to a place located next to the settlement of Khankala, Chechnya.
117.  On 25 February 2006 the investigation in the criminal case was suspended owing to the failure to identify the perpetrators.
118.  On 28 March 2006 the interim district prosecutor overruled the decision to suspend the criminal proceedings and resumed the investigation. The applicants or their relatives were informed about this decision.
119.  According to the Government, on 4 April 2006 the investigators again requested information about the disappeared men from various State authorities in various regions of the Russian Federation.
120.  According to the responses received from various offices of the Ministry of the Execution of Punishment, the applicants’ relatives had not been detained on administrative or criminal charges.
121.  According to the responses received from hospitals in various regions of the Russian Federation, the applicants’ relatives had not applied for medical assistance.
122.  On 28 April 2006 the investigation in the criminal case was suspended owing to the failure to identify the perpetrators.
123.  On 8 December 2006 the deputy Chechnya prosecutor overruled the decision to suspend the criminal proceedings and resumed the investigation. The applicants or their relatives were informed about this decision.
124.  On 8 December 2006 the investigators requested information from the Department of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the Ministry of the Interior in the Rostov region (the Traffic Safety Inspectorate) as to the owner of the vehicles with the registration numbers B 112 BM 61 or B 112 MB 61.
125.  On 12 December 2006 the investigators received a response from the Traffic Safety Inspectorate. The letter stated that the registration number B 112 BM 61 had been issued on 13 November 2001 to a GAZ motor vehicle which had belonged to the Main Department for the Execution of Sentences of the Ministry of Justice in the Rostov region. However, according to the Government, the theory of the possible involvement of this vehicle in the abduction of the applicants’ relatives was not confirmed by the investigation.
126. On 15 January 2007 the investigation in the criminal case was suspended owing to the failure to identify the perpetrators. The applicants or their relatives were informed about this decision.
127. On 6 September 2007 the interim district prosecutor overruled the decision to suspend the criminal proceedings and resumed the investigation. The criminal case file was forwarded to the Chechnya prosecutor’s office for further investigation.
128. According to the Government, the investigation failed to establish the whereabouts of Salakh Elsiyev, Iskhadzhi Demelkhanov, Adam Boltiyev, Dzhabrail Debishev, Lom-Ali Abubakarov, Ramzan Mandiyev, Akhmed Demilkhanov and Aslambek Agmerzayev.
129. It follows from the Government’s submissions that between 11 September 2002 and 6 September 2007 the investigation into the abduction of the applicants’ relatives was suspended and resumed on six occasions, and that it has so far failed to identify the perpetrators.
130.  According to the Government, the applicants have been duly informed of all decisions taken during the investigation.
131.  Despite specific requests by the Court the Government did not disclose any documents from the file in criminal case no. 75089, except for a copy of decision of the Shali Town Court of 13 March 2006, a copy of the procedural decision confirming that the first applicant had familiarised himself with the file in criminal case no. 75089, dated 16 April 2006, and a copy of a signed statement by the first applicant dated 16 April 2006 that he would not disclose any information about the investigation in the criminal case without the prior authorisation of the investigators. The Government stated that the investigation was in progress and that the disclosure of other documents from the case file would be in violation of Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, since the file “contained information concerning the disposition of military and special troops, the nature of their activity, and personal data and addresses of the witnesses and other participants in the criminal proceedings”.
132.  On 8 October 2003 the first applicant on behalf of all the applicants complained to the Shali District Court of Chechnya (the District Court) about the ineffectiveness of the investigation into the disappearance of Salakh Elsiyev, Iskhadzhi Demelkhanov, Adam Boltiyev, Dzhabrail Debishev, Lom-Ali Abubakarov, Ramzan Mandiyev, Akhmed Demilkhanov and Aslambek Agmerzayev. It appears that this complaint was not examined by the court.
133.  On 19 December 2003 the SRJI sent a registered letter to the District Court, enquiring about the outcome of the first applicant’s complaint of 8 October 2003. No response was given to the SRJI.
134.  On 23 June 2005 the SRJI reiterated its request. No response was given to this letter.
135.  On an unspecified date at the beginning of 2006 the applicants complained of the ineffectiveness of the investigation in criminal case no. 75089 to the district prosecutor’s office. They requested that the investigation be conducted effectively and that they be provided with access to the investigation file.
136.  On 13 March 2006 the District Court allowed their complaint in part and stated that the applicants should be provided with access to the investigation file “within limits guaranteeing that no investigative secrets will be divulged”. The decision also stated, among other things, the following:
“... the assistant of the district prosecutor Mr I.T. has submitted [to the court] that ...
-  it has been established [by the investigation in the criminal case] that those persons [the applicants’ relatives] were apprehended in Tsotsi-Yurt by units which were armed with armoured vehicles – that is, by units belonging to the Ministry of Defence or the Internal Troops of the Ministry of the Interior. In connection with this, in accordance with the decision of the interim prosecutor of the Kurchaloy district of 26 July 2003, criminal case no. 75089 was transferred to the Chechnya prosecutor’s office for subsequent transfer under the rules of jurisdiction to the military prosecutor’s office of military unit no. 20102. However, this criminal case was referred back for additional investigation [to the district prosecutor’s office], as according to the witness statements of V. Boltiyev, A. Debishev and Kh. Mandiyev, the apprehended persons A. Boltiyev, D. Debishev and the Mandiyev brothers had been detained in an ‘AvtoZak’ vehicle with the registration number B 112 MB 61 RUS, belonging to the Ministry of Justice.
-  according to the decision of the interim prosecutor of the Kurchaloy district of 25 October 2003, criminal case no. 75089 was again forwarded to the military prosecutor’s office of military unit no. 20102; but on 22 January 2004, without having taken any investigative measures, that office returned the case file to the district prosecutor’s office ...”